FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT LOUIS RUKEYSER - PAGE 2

Have you noticed what's happened to money? It's gotten hot. We don't mean stolen money. We mean it's hot, in, vogue, cool to talk about. How to make it. How to keep it. How to invest it. Personal finance books routinely show up on the best-seller lists. And a growing number of TV programs are devoted to helping people navigate the treacherous personal finance waters. So many, in fact, that it can get confusing just figuring out which shows to watch. That's where we come in. Here's a primer of five major finance programs with thoughts on how well each serves its audience.

BY DAVID FOLKENFLIK. David Folkenflik is the TV critic at the Baltimore Sun, a Tribune newspaper | June 11, 2002

What does Maryland Public Television have in common with Linda Tripp, a promoter of questionable cancer cures and the owner of a South Baltimore factory where Legionnaires' disease broke out? All of the above have hired the same "media crisis manager" in recent years. That would be Levi Rabinowitz, an ingratiating and sometimes infuriating spin doctor who, despite being picked for the job by an MPT board packed with Democratic supporters of Gov. Parris N. Glendening, has rarely found a Republican he didn't like.

Talk is cheap, someone once said, but that's not true these days for the stars of the lecture circuit. For such celebrities, says Bernie Swain of the Washington Speakers Bureau, 1993 should be "a great year," a time to talk of many things-from health care to jump-starting the economy to "da Bears." Mike Ditka gives a barn-burner of a speech on motivation, says one booking agent, though he gets quite upset when his fee is mentioned publicly. (It's $24,000.) That's $9,000 more than Harry Caray got last year for showing up at the annual company breakfast of the Leo Burnett advertising agency, though all Harry had to do was lead employees in one song, about a ballgame.

The media has been buzzing for weeks over the demise and rebirth of financial commentator Louis Rukeyser. First, Rukeyser was unceremoniously dumped from the show he created, "Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser" by Maryland Public Television, apparently because the managers there wanted to make their programming a bit younger and more hip. On April 9, Rukeyser was announced as the host of a new show on CNBC, to be called "Louis Rukeyser's Wall...

Last Friday marked the first time that CNBC's "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" went up against his old PBS series, the renamed and relaunched "Wall $treet Week With Fortune." Round 2 of this grudge match between Rukeyser and the team that supplanted him in a bitter controversy will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday (WTTW-Ch. 11 for "Wall $treet," CNBC for "Wall Street"). If you're confused about which show does what, here's a handy guide whose use is limited because the two shows do so much of the same thing.

"Five cents for postage and 25 cents for storage." -"Wall Street Week" moderator Louis Rukeyser, joking about the proposed hike in the postal rate to 30 cents. "There is something for the waste haulers to oppose, something for the tobacco industry to oppose, something for chemical manufactureres to oppose, something for the liquor lobby and phone companies and Lord knows who else to oppose." -Gov. James Thompson, presenting his last state budget to the Illinois legislature.

Starting Wednesday, The Tribune's Business section takes on a new look and expands it coverage with a renewed emphasis on consumer-oriented news. A redesigned first page will feature easier-to-understand graphics and pictures. Changes in the stock market tables will make information easier to find. On Page 1, the daily Business Ticker column will be redesigned and feature shorter, livelier items focusing on a wide range of timely issues and events. A daily graphic business facts box will provide a quick, informative look at key industries, products and trends.

Starting Wednesday, The Tribune's business section takes on a new look and expands its coverage with a renewed emphasis on consumer-oriented news. A redesigned first page will feature easier-to-understand graphics and pictures. Changes in the stock market tables will make information easier to find. On Page 1, the daily business ticker column will be redesigned and will feature shorter, livelier items. A daily graphic business facts box will provide a quick, informative look at key industries, products and trends.

Women have an inherent investing edge. At least that's the contention of financial expert Louis Rukeyser, who explains in the March issue of Lear's magazine that the money moxie is due to a more realistic perception of the green. "Women tend to go into the market with clearer objectives and to see money for what it is-a tool," says Rukeyser, host of television's "Wall Street Week." "They understand that money buys things and security, whereas men tend to have an ambiguous view of money.